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Home | Australian Place | Huon Valley Council
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It encompasses the town of Huonville, on the Huon River, some surrounding towns, and many protected areas and forestry plantations. The Tahune Airwalk is also in the area, located near the township of Geeveston. In 1993 the Municipalites of Esperance, Huon and Port Cygnet were amalgamated to form the Huon Valley Council. Remote subantarctic Macquarie Island, which is located some 1400 km southeast of Tasmania proper, was part of Esperance until then, and has been part of Huon Valley since then. The municipality has seven townships: #Cygnet #Dover (on Esperance Bay) #Franklin #Geeveston #Port Huon #Glen Huon #Huonville For election purposes, Huon Valley is un-subdivided. Councillors serve divided four year terms, with elections every two years using the Hare-Clark system of proportional representation. The terms of four Councillors expire at one two yearly election, and the terms of five Councillors expire at the other. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor are each directly elected for a two year term. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor must also be elected Councillors. Unless a non-retiring Councillor they are ineligible to hold the position of Mayor or Deputy Mayor if they fail to win election to a Councillor position as well. The current composition of the Council, with place of residence, is: * Mayor for a term expiring 2011: Robert Armstrong (Cygnet) * Deputy Mayor for a term expiring 2011: Bruce Heron (Grove) Elected 2007 for a term expiring 2011: * Robert Armstrong (Cygnet) * Liz Smith (Cygnet) * Ian Paul (Judbury) * Gary Doyle (Dover) Elected 2009 for a term expiring 2013: * Bruce Heron (Grove) * Mike Wilson (Port Huon) * Tony Duggan (Huonville) * Rohan Gudden (Cygnet) * Rosalie Woodruff (Cygnet) Neither the Australian Labor Party nor the Liberal Party of Australia endorse local government candidates in Tasmania. Most councillors are non-partisan. Two Councillors, Liz Smith and Rosalie Woodruff, are members of the Australian Greens. Huon Valley Council has one of the highest birth rates in all of Australia, although the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) went down from 2.60 in 2001 to 2.35 in 2006. |
